Container protective edge component

ABSTRACT

A metal blank is contoured for attachment to a substantially cylindrical container edge and the forming of a protective covering on said container edge.

United States Patent Thompson 5] Jan. 25, 1972 CONTAINER PROTECTIVE EDGE1 References Cited COMPONENT UNITED STATES PATENTS [721 Invent: JamesKansas City, 1,984,134 12/1934 Himmel et a1. ..29/l91.6

73 Assigneez h li Petroleum Company 3,355,266 1 1/1967 OBrien ..29/19O3,083,663 4/1963 Stuchberg et al. ..29/190 X 22 Filed: Dec. 5, 1969 [2No Primary ExaminerA1len CUI'IiS Attorney-Young and Ouigg 52 0.5. CI..29 |s3.s, 29 190, 29/193, 57] ABSTRACT 1 13/120 v 5 1 1m. Cl. ..B65d/00, Bd 67/00 A blank cmmured for substanmlly 581 Field 01 Search ..29/lR, A, 180 SS, 180 s, Cylindrical miner edge and fmming a Protectivecovering on said container edge.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJmsmz 3,636,608

INVENTOR. J. K. THOMPSON BY K Q QWL FIG. 2 ATTORNEYS CONTAINERPROTECTIVE EDGE COMPONENT This invention relates to a container blankfor forming a protective edge. In another aspect, this invention relatesto a contoured metal blank for attachment to and forming a protectiveedge for the end of a cylindrical container.

Containers, particularly containers formed of paperboard and the likefor holding articles that are intermittently removed therefrom, oftenhave an edge that frays and/or tears during the repeated opening of alid of the container and removal of articles contained therein. Wherethe edge of said container is relatively thin, a person handling thecontainer might also be cut while manipulating the container. Anotheraspect of these previously used containers is that where the containeris utilized for packaging food, such as potato chips and the like, dirtand germs can more readily accumulate ina frayed or torn edge andparticles of the containers frayed edge can separate, fall into thecontainer, and contaminate the food contained therein.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a con- .touredblank for forming a protective edge on a container.

Another object of this invention is to provide a contoured metal blankfor attachment to and forming a protective edge for a substantiallycylindrically shaped end of a container. Yet another object of thisinvention is to provide a contoured metal blank for attachment to andforming a protective edge for a container of the above-described type toprevent said edge from fraying and tearing.

Other aspects, objects, and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from a study of the disclosure, the appended claims, andthe drawing.

The drawings are views of the contoured blank of this invention.

FIG. I is an axonometric view of the contoured blank,

FIG. 2 is an end view of another embodiment of the contoured blank,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the contoured blank of FIG. 1 taken alongline 3-3, and

FIG. 4 is an axonometric view of yet another embodiment of the contouredblank.

Referring to FIG. I, the contoured blank 2 is formed from asubstantially rectangularly shaped elongated strip of material that istwice folded longitudinally at spaced-apart locationsto forrn first,second, and third portions 4, 6, 8. The first fold defines adjacentsides of a first and second portions 4, 60f the contoured blank 2 andthe second fold l2 definesadjacent sides of the second and thirdportions 6, 8 of the contoured blank 2. Each portion 4, 6, 8 of thecontoured blank 2 has a substantially rectangular configuration.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the second portion 2 is folded to form anangle of about 90 relative to the first portion 4 and the third portion8 is folded toward the first portion 4 to form an angle of about 120relative to the second portion 6 in the formed condition of thecontoured blank 2.

In order to resist damage to the edge of the container, be easily formedand subsequently attached to the container, and be capable of beingrelatively sanitary, it is preferred that the contoured blank 2 beformed of metal such as steel, aluminum, copper, brass, and the like. Inorder to prevent detachment of the contoured blank 2 from the containerand prevent lateral movement relative to the container while maintainingthe amount of material utilized to a minimum, the width of the firstportion 4 should be about two times longer than the width of the secondportion 6 and the width of the second portion 6 about two times longerthan the width of the third portion 8 of the contoured blank 2. Sincethe contoured blank 2 of this invention comes in contact with a person'shands, it isimportant that first and second surfaces 14,16 of the folds10,12 be relatively blunt in order to eliminate sharp edges upon which aperson might be injured. For this reason, it is preferred that theradius of the first and second folds 10,12 be at least 0.02 inch.Folds'having a smaller radius have been found to be excessively sharp.

ln forming a contoured'blank 2 for attachment to and the forming of aprotective edge for a container having a substantially cylindrical shapewith a circumference of about 30 inches, for example, it has been foundthat a minimum of material is utilized and the blank 2 is capable-ofbeing securely attached to the cylinder if the contoured blank 2 isformed of metal, has a first portion 4-width excluding the radiused foldof about 0.30 inch, a second portion 6 width excluding the radiusedfolds of about 0.14 inch, a third portion 8 width excluding the radiusedfold of about 0.16 inch, and each portion has a thickness of about 0.01inch with the first fold 10 having an inside radius of about 0.02 inchand the second fold l2 having an inside radius of about 0.078 inch withthe angle between the first and second portions 4,6 being about and theangle between the second and third portions 6,8 being about [20 asdescribed above.

Since the contoured blank 2 of this invention is generally attached tothe container by machinery, it is preferred for use in some machinesthat at least one protrusion 18 (better seen in FIG. 3) be formed on theblank 2 with said protrusion 18 extending laterally from the plane of anouter surface 20 of said third portion 8 at an opposed direction from.the general direction of the first portion 4 of the blank 2 relative tosaid third portion 8. This protrusion 18 should have a length sufficientto prevent contact of the third portions 8 of adjacent blanks when saidblanks are stacked one upon the other in, for example, a blank reservoirof a blank attaching machine. By preventing contact of the adjacentthird portions 8, as described above, separation of one blank fromanother and separate feeding of individual blanks intermittently into ablank attaching machine is facilitated. It has been found that if saidprotrusions are not formed, in some .types of blank feeding apparatusthe blanks have excessive frictional drag when being moved relative toone another and cause said feeding apparatus to malfunction.

It should be understood that'more than one protrusion can be formed onthe blank and said protrusions can be located at other locations so longas they function to slightly separate portions of one blank from inadjacent blank of a stack of blanks. Third portion 8 may havecorrugations 22 as illustrated in FIG. 4 to produce the same result.

Other modifications and alterations of this invention will becomeapparentto those skilled in the art from the foregoing discussion,example, and accompanying drawing, and it should be understood that thisinvention is not to be unduly limited thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. An end component for attachment to and forming a protective edge foran end of a substantially cylindrical container, comprising:

an elongated strip ofa length sufficient to pass substantiallycompletely aboutthe end of a container, said strip being twicelongitudinally folded at spaced-apart locations to form only'first,second andthird generally planar portions with each portion having asubstantially rectangular configuration, said second portion beingfolded to form an angle of about '90 relative to the first portion andsaid third portion being folded toward the first portion to form anangle of .about relative to the second portion in the formed conditionof the blank.

2. A blank, as set forth in claim 1. wher in th width of the firstportion is about two times larger than the width of the second portionand the width of the second portion is about two timesrlarger than'thewidth of the third portion.

3. A blank, as setforth in claim '1, wherein the third portion has atleast one protrusion formed thereon extending laterally from an outersurface of saidthird portion in an opposed direction from-the directionof the ffirst portion of the blank relative to saidthird portion.

4. A blank, as set forth in claim 31, wherein the two folds each has aninside radius at least 0.02 inch for forming folded portions havingblunt surfaces.

5. A blank, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first portion has awidth of about-0:30 inch, the second portion .has a width of about0.l4'inch and the third portion has a width of about 0.06 inch, and eachportion has a thickness of about inch, a length of about 30 inches andis formed of metal.

I! l k

2. A blank, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the width of the firstportion is about two times larger than the width of the second portionand the width of the second portion is about two times larger than thewidth of the third portion.
 3. A blank, as set forth in claim 1, whereinthe third portion has at least one protrusion formed thereon extendinglaterally from an outer surface of said third portion in an opposeddirection from the direction of the first portion of the blank relativeto said third portion.
 4. A blank, as set forth in claim 1, wherein thetwo folds each has an inside radius at least 0.02 inch for formingfolded portions having blunt surfaces.
 5. A blank, as set forth in claim1, wherein the first portion has a width of about 0.30 inch, the secondportion has a width of about 0.14 inch and the third portion has a widthof about 0.06 inch, and each portion has a thickness of about 0.01 inch,a length of about 30 inches and is formed of metal.